The State Duma has developed amendments to the Air Code that regulate the operation of air taxis in Russia and help the development of small aviation. The project is already undergoing internal approvals and will soon be submitted to the Ministry of Transport.
Currently, services similar to air taxis are carried out through charter flights on light aircraft and are called air taxis or commercial transportation. However, such services are not very popular and are expensive: such transportation has the same state regulation as regular air transportation, and the same stringent requirements. There is no separate concept of air taxi and regulations for its operation in Russian legislation.
The amendments provide for a number of measures that, according to their authors, will change this situation. They will reduce the cost of operating light aircraft sixfold and attract lessors, making the operation of air taxis profitable. These are:
- the introduction into the legislation of the Russian Federation of the concept of a separate category of small aviation - air taxi - and the norms regulating its activities;
- the elimination of "excessive regulation" of air taxis by the state - simplification of certification of operating companies and their aircraft, aviation training centers, maintenance centers and small airfields, personnel requirements. It is proposed to transfer these functions to self-regulatory organizations;
- preservation of supervisory key functions and flight safety control by Rosaviatsia and other specialized structures.
However, experts doubt that this will help the development of small aviation. There are only about two hundred airfields for small aviation in Russia, there are not so many domestic light aircraft and they are still quite import-dependent in terms of parts and aircraft engines.
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